Bills at Bengals: Monday Night Football Preview; Battle for No. 1 Seed?

The Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals end the Week 17 slate with a critical battle for postseason positioning.

The Buffalo Bills will have to wait a week until arguably one the biggest games of their season.

The Bills (12-3) will visit the Cincinnati Bengals (11-4) next Monday, Jan. 2 for a game that is oozing with postseason positioning implications.

But before jumping ahead, the Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts will wrap up Week 16 with a meeting Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Still, it's never to early to look ahead to a battle of AFC heavyweights.

Buffalo is coming off a 35-13 division-clinching win over the Chicago Bears on Saturday, a victory that kept the Bills in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs.

But while the Bengals still await their divisional fate, they are arguably the hottest team in the league headed into the prime-time matchup. Cincinnati is on a seven-game winning streak following a 22-18 win over the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve.

With a win over the Bills, the Bengals, who are currently the conference's No. 3 seed, would leapfrog Buffalo in the standings with a real shot at securing the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Cincinnati would then have key wins over the Bills and the current No. 1-seeded Kansas City Chiefs who, with a 12-3 record headed into the second-to-last week of the season, could still beat out Buffalo and the Bengals for a first-round bye by winning out in the final two games.

Of course, the Bengals would have to rely on the lowly Denver Broncos (4-11) to come away with a road upset over the Chiefs on Sunday or the nearly-eliminated Las Vegas Raiders to do the same in Week 18.

But before looking toward the help they need, the Bengals will be focusing on the task of toppling the Bills. It's a challenge made easier given the fact an elite offense led by MVP-like quarterback Joe Burrow is finally back to having all of its weapons healthy.

Running back Joe Mixon is still getting his groove back after a two-game absence from a concussion at the November-December turn.

Cincinnati also has one of the league's top receiving duos back in action. Star pass-catcher Ja'Maar Chase (hip) and standout receiver Tee Higgins (hamstring) both continue to prove that injuries won't easily slow them down, as they will hardly be an easy cover for a Buffalo secondary that has been middle-of-the-pack from a statistical standpoint this season.

And of course, they have Burrow slinging it to him, who is currently second in the league in passing yards (4,260) and passing touchdowns (34) while being third in completion percentage (69 percent).

The talent level, stakes and overall star-power for the Monday night matchup has all the makings of a late-season classic. The hype will continue to build before the Bengals and Bills kickoff at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7

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